The increasing reliance on renewable energy sources necessitates effective energy storage solutions due to the intermittent nature of the renewable energy supply. This research investigates the potential of using sand as a medium for low-to-medium temperature sensible heat energy storage. Sand samples were collected from different areas in the UAE (desert, beach and mountain) to measure their thermophysical properties, and a storage tank was constructed for experimental evaluation. To improve the thermal conductivity of the sand, small copper pieces and shavings from material waste were incorporated at different ratios. Tests on these modified sands showed increased thermal conductivity, especially with the addition of shavings, though there was a reduction in specific heat capacity. The study tested the ability of desert sand to retain heat using a helical coil heat exchanger. The experiment consisted of a 4-hour heating phase followed by a 12.5-hour storage phase, conducted across three scenarios: pure sand, sand with large copper shavings, and sand with small copper pieces. Temperature distribution analyses indicated that sand mixed with copper achieved faster heat transfer rates than pure sand. However, the pure sand setup maintained heat more efficiently, retaining a larger quantity of heat over time

The utilization of affordable and cost-effective storage materials is a crucial factor in the development of such systems. In this study, the influence of coil pitch, inlet fluid temperature and hot fluid velocity on sand based thermal energy storage (TES) unit is investigated, using experimental results and theoretical models. The experimental segment of this study focuses on measuring the thermophysical properties of two sand samples obtained from different locations within the United Arab Emirates. A conjugated heat transfer model is developed to predict TES using the experimentally measured sand properties. A regression model utilizing response surface methodology (RSM) approach is developed to represent the energy stored per kilogram of sand as a function of the input factors. Furthermore, an optimization algorithm is employed to determine the optimal values of input factors that maximize the energy storage density. The results reveal that the three factors (fluid inlet temperature, velocity, and number of coil turns) significantly affect the stored thermal energy. The RSM analysis illustrates that maintaining high levels of both inlet temperature and fluid velocity maximizes the energy stored. Similarly, keeping inlet temperature and coil turns at the high level maximizes the energy stored. The optimized sand energy storage unit mass reaches 6.348 kJ/kg after an 8-h charging period, with an associated pressure drop of 71.4 Pa for the currently designed unit.

This paper presents a comparison of four different wall structures aiming to study the impact of using PCM "phase change material" on the thermal performance of lightweight building walls. The comparison was done using simulation based on the weather conditions in Sharjah, UAE, and five different wall orientations were involved in the comparative analysis: horizontal, east-facing, west-facing, south-facing, and north-facing walls. The wall without PCM (with 60 mm insulation) was considered the reference case, while the three other walls included an additional inner layer of 10 mm thickness (insulation, PCM-31, and RT-41). All walls were tested at different orientations to find the influence of PCM and orientation on energy consumption. The results showed that the incorporation of PCM has a significant contribution to stability improvement and inner wall temperature fluctuation reduction. This was more considerable in the case of using PCM-31 as PCM where the inner wall temperature was highly stable with minor fluctuations between 26 degrees C and 27 degrees C. Compared to the reference case, PCMs reduced the inner wall temperature peak by more than 2 degrees C. Similarly, PCM-31 demonstrated the best performance regarding indoor heat flux with a peak reduction of 78.6 %, while the performance of RT-41 was also acceptable with a corresponding percentage of 46.4 %. Furthermore, the greatest amount of energy can be saved by utilizing PCM implemented in the roof of the building and on the south facing surfaces of Sharjah.

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) adopted by the United Nations create global awareness, political responsibility, enhanced measurements, and social feedback by organizing these priorities into seventeen goals and defining measurable time-bound targets. SDG7, “Affordable and Clean Energy,” aims to ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable, and modern energy for all. Therefore, renewable energy is crucial for achieving the SDGs by providing sustainable, clean, affordable energy solutions. This study aims to identify the scientific production and its evolution related to concentrated solar power (CSP) and provide an overview of system hybridization towards accessing their role in achieving the SDGs. The study analyzes recent publications on hybrid CSP over the past decade using bibliometric analysis. The findings reveal that hybrid CSP systems directly and indirectly contribute to the SDGs. For example, hybrid CSP power is directly related to SDGs 7 Affordable and Clean Energy, 8 Decent Work and Economic Growth, 9 Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, 11 Sustainable Cities and Communities, and 12 Responsible Consumption and Production. In contrast, cooling applications are indirectly connected to SDGs 1, No Poverty, and 3, Good Health and Wellbeing. The study also highlights the increasing trend of publications on CSP, with the year 2020 marking the highest point. China has the highest number of publications on hybrid CSP, followed by the USA, Italy, the UK, Spain, and France. This study highlights the potential benefits of CSP hybridization in achieving sustainable development goals and emphasizes the need to fully address the challenges of implementing these systems.

Bibliometric analysis plays a vital role in understanding the landscape and development of research in various fields, including phase change materials (PCMs) in photovoltaics (PV). PCM can regulate the temperature of the panels and improve their performance by absorbing and releasing large amounts of thermal energy during phase transitions. However, there are also some challenges associated with integrating PCM with PV technology. Based on bibliometric analysis, the current study aims to provide valuable insights for researchers, policymakers, and industry professionals who are interested in exploring the potential benefits of integrating PCM with PV technology, as well as to investigate the impact of this integration on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The bibliometric analysis presented in this paper covers studies published from 1977 until 2023 and includes an examination of the benefits, challenges, and limitations associated with integrating PCM with PV panels. The analysis also highlights potential areas for future investigation, such as the development of new materials that can enhance the performance of PCM in PV systems. The findings showed that, while there are still some challenges to be addressed, in relation to administrative, institutional, and regulations barriers, the integration of PCM with PV technology has significant potential to contribute to the SDGs, especially in promoting energy efficiency. Based on the bibliometric analysis, 74% of the research done on PV-PCM systems was related to the SDGs, where most of them focused on SDG 7, with a percentage of 86%. Previous findings revealed that PCMs improved the energy generation of a PV system by 40% to 42%, which confirms the contribution of PV-PCM to the accomplishment of SDG 7. Furthermore, the results show that adding PCMs to PV systems contributes to a higher impact on several environmental factors, such as global warming, fossil resource scarcity, ozone formation, and water consumption.

In commercial buildings with large glazing facades, transparent facades and skylights play a considerable impact on energy consumption. In this study, three different photovoltaic (PV)-based skylights are com-pared to save energy in these buildings. The first skylight uses a vacuum glazing sample as a substrate at the backside of the PV layers. The second design integrates a vacuum glazing layer in front of the PV lay-ers. And lastly, the PV layers are attached to a single layer of glazing with a solar cells covers 25% of the whole area. A 3D thermal model is developed and validated with data from the literature to compare these designs. it is concluded that using a vacuum layer at the backside of the PV layer is favorable for thermal insulation and attains relatively similar power generation to the case without a vacuum layer. In more detail, replacing the single glazing PV skylight with the first skylight design reduces the total U-value of the glazing from 6.3 to 1.9 W/m2.K for a glazing sample with an area of 0.4 m by 0.4 m at ASTM boundary conditions. Furthermore, at received solar irradiance of 1000 W/m2, an ambient temper-ature of 25 degrees C, and a wind speed of 1 m/s, replacing the third skylight design with the first skylight design slightly reduced the electricity generation from 37.4 W/m2 to 36.4 W/m2, significantly decreased the heat flux transfer from 91.1 W/m2 to 50.5 W/m2 and lowers the indoor surface temperature from 32.1 degrees C to 27.1 degrees C.(c) 2023 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

With the modernization of cities, the concept of the Internet of Things (IoT) is gaining popularity and becoming a vital source of smart developments. An added advantage of solar energy systems, IoT applications enable automatic and remote sensing, processing, and execution. IoT ensures that information is easily available and accessible from any location around the world. The IoT applications improve the visibility, scalability, and cost-effectiveness of solar energy generation and service. A bibliometric analysis of scientific publications in the field of solar PV and IoT applications was conducted using the Scopus database between the years 2011 and 2023. Many studies of technological development have been discovered, and some insights can still be approached in such a way that the practical implementation of photovoltaic solar systems is improved. Since 2013, there has been an increase in the rate of publications. The majority of these studies were conducted in India, and the most common IoT applications reported were in the fields of computer science and engineering. This article identifies knowledge gaps to inform the community, industry, and government officials about IoT research directions in the solar energy field.

In this work, the SCAPS-1D solar cell simulation software was used to model, simulate and track perovskite solar cells (PSCs) with planar structure, in a confined mode arrangement (FTO/TiO/CH3NH3PbI3/CH3NH3GeI3/CH3NH3SnI3/CuO2). Different compositions, absorber thickness, electron affinity, and absorber doping concentration were investigated. Different hole transport materials (CuO2, CuI, NiO, PEDOT: PSS) were used. The best result for CH3NH3PbI3 with CuO2 hole transport material (HTM) showed an overall efficiency of 18.28%, FF of 62.71%, Jsc of 25 mA/cm2, and Voc of 1.1 V. For tin lead-free halide CH3NH3SnI3, the best results showed an overall efficiency of 24.54%, FF of 71.30%, Jsc of 34 mA/cm2, and Voc of 0.99 V. Lead-free PSC has an advantage over lead PSC due to lead toxicity. However, a tin-based cell is unstable, hence, the p-type carrier doping concentration of tin-based perovskite PCE of the device can be improved due to the better and stronger combined electric field.

Metal chalcogenides' unique physical and chemical features, such as metal sulfides and selenides, have received significant attention as attractive materials for supercapacitor (SC) applications. Metal chalcogenides have better electrical conductivity, excellent thermal and mechanical stabilities than corresponding metal oxides and hydroxides. In this work, monocrystalline Ni-M (M = Se, S, P, O) nanosheet (NS) on Ni-foam's surface were prepared as binderless electrodes (positive) for asymmetric SCs (ASC). The NiSe2 NS, a hierarchical 3D nanostructure with abundant active sites, showed the best performance among the differently prepared metal chalcogenides. After 10,000 cycles, NiSe2 NS exhibited a superior capacity of 4.2 mAh cm(-2) with 66.7% rate capability and cycling stability of 92.7%. A negative electrode, profoundly exfoliated iron titanium nitride at graphene aerogel doped with nitrogen (Fe-TiN@NG), was also fabricated in this work for SCs applications. The constructed ASC device delivers 1.6 V (maximum operating voltage), a remarkable volumetric capacity of 2.1 mAh cm(-3) @ 3 mA cm(-2), a superior energy and power densities of 85.1 W h Kg(-1), 516.3 W Kg(-1), with 91.3% of capacity retention after 15,000 cycles. Such results can be used as a guideline for preparing SCs with high energy density and high stability.

Transition metal selenides (TMS) have excellent research prospects and significant attention in supercapacitors (SCs) owing to their high electrical conductivity, superior electrochemical activity and excellent structural stability. However, the commercial utilization of TMS remains challenge due to their elaborate synthesis. Present study designed a hierarchical cobalt selenide (CoSe2) nanowire array on Ni-foam to serve as a positive electrode for asymmetric SCs (ASCs). The nanowires-like morphology of CoSe2 was highly advantageous for SCs, as it offered enhanced electrical conductivity, plenty of surface sites, and short ion diffusion. The as-obtained, CoSe2 nanowire electrode demonstrated outstanding electrochemical features, with an areal capacity of 1.08 mAh cm(-2) at 3 mA cm(-2), high-rate performance (69.5 % at 50 mA cm(-2)), as well as outstanding stability after 10,000 cycles. The iron titanium nitride@nitrogendoped graphene (Fe-TiN@NG) was prepared as a negative electrode to construct the ASCs cell. The obtained ASCs cell illustrated an energy density of 91.8 W h kg(-1) at a power density of 281.4 W kg(-1) and capacity retention of 94.6% over 10,000 cycles. The overall results provide a more efficient strategy to develop redox-ambitious active materials with a high capacity for advanced energy-storage systems. (C) 2021 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Countries are working into making agriculture more sustainable by integrating different technologies to enhance its operation. Implementing improvements in irrigation systems is crucial for the water-use efficiency and works as a contributor to Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) under the United Nations specifically Goal 6 and Target 6.4. This paper aims to highlight the contribution of SMART irrigation using Internet of Things (IoT) and sensory systems in relation to the SDGs. The study is based on a qualitative design along with focusing on secondary data collection method. Automated irrigation systems are essential for conservation of water, this improvement could have a vital role in minimizing water usage. Agriculture and farming techniques is also linked with IoT and automation, to make the whole processes much more effective and efficient. Sensory systems helped farmers better understand their crops and reduced the environmental impacts and conserve resources. Through these advanced systems effective soil and weather monitoring takes place along with efficient water management. Irrigation systems have been determined as positive contributor toward optimized irrigation systems that could enhance the use of continuous research and development which focus on enhancing the sustainable operations and cost reduction. Lastly, the challenges and benefits for the implementation of sensory based irrigation systems are discussed. This review will assist researchers and farmers to better understand irrigation techniques and provide an adequate approach would be sufficient to carry out irrigation related activities.

Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in September 2015, provide a robust framework for international efforts to accomplish both human development and climate objectives. And renewable energy systems (RES) contributes directly or indirectly to the SDGs. Given that Concentrated Solar Power (CSP) are among the most widely used RES, due to their ability to provide dispatchable energy through thermal energy storage (TES) or hybridization, it is essential that decision makers understand their role in achieving the SDGs, and be aware of, the attributes of CSP-hybridization. The purpose of this study is to present an overview of the CSP and their hybridization systems, as well as, to investigate the role of CSP in the SDGs. Moreover, within this research, the investigation includes the patterns in CSP publication during the last 10 years. The study showed that, CSP have the potential to contribute to the majority of the SDGs, in particular, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9: Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action and SDG 15: Life on Land. Furthermore, the bibliometric analysis conducted in the study reveals that there has been a discernible rise in the number of papers published on topics connected to CSP, the majority of which concentrate the on the capabilities of integrating CSP with thermal heat storage.

Nowadays the World faces critical issues, such as increasing population, power costs, and global warming. In this respect, scientists are trying to improve the efficiency of the energy harvesting. The enhancement of power generation sectors is focused on the waste heat recovery systems based on thermoelectric generators (TEGs) that have demonstrated the capacity to transfer thermal energy directly into electric energy via the Seebeck effect. TEG uses the available waste heat sources in different applications to produce power, thus it considered as an eco-friendly power source. In the present study, the integration of thermoelectric systems with other technologies for green power production is introduced. This work introduces a background about the common materials used in the fabrication of the TEG devices. Furthermore, the application of the TEG to harvest waste heat from different sources, i.e., fuel cells, heat exchangers, photovoltaics, internal combustion engine, electric vehicles, and hybrid waste heat recovery systems have been summarized. The characteristics of thermoelectric generators are discussed, considering the different operating and design parameters. Finally, the barriers and challenges facing the applications of the thermoelectric generators for waste heat recovery are also discussed.